


To Keep An Eye Out For You

by J_E_McCormick, TiltingPlanet



Series: Say Nothing Of It [11]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Enjolras cannot people well, M/M, height of romance right here, hey look finally this little gap fill, were unoriginal haha we dont care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-21
Updated: 2013-06-21
Packaged: 2017-12-15 16:45:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/851765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/J_E_McCormick/pseuds/J_E_McCormick, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TiltingPlanet/pseuds/TiltingPlanet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You could've gotten yourself killed if you'd been hit a little higher!" Enjolras snapped in response, balling his hands into fists. "You have no self preservation to speak of!" And perhaps it was just worry making Enjolras yell, but perhaps if Grantaire used his head!<br/>"Well maybe I don't, what does it matter?" Grantaire growled. "I kept you out of danger, that's what matters to me."</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Keep An Eye Out For You

**Author's Note:**

> This... probably isn't the greatest thing ever and the situation is probably the biggest cliché out there and tbh it doesn't address much of this gap but hey we've got the exact story of how Grantaire and Enjolras got together so here *throws at you*

The reason Enjolras probably so detested recounting the story of how he and Grantaire got together was near completely for the reason that it was rather like an enormous cliché.

Protest day rolled around, and for once all of the Amis could make it. Rides were arranged, first aid kits were packed, and Bahorel was strictly warned that they wouldn't bail him out of jail (even if they all knew they would).

Amongst Joly's fretting and Courfeyrac's subsequent teasing, everyone arrived at the protest, no problem. Grantaire, as always, took up an unassuming position, next to where Enjolras would stand to make his speech - while everyone else started to intersperse, ready to hand out leaflets and fliers and whatever the hell else, Grantaire would do nothing other than stand and listen.

Within an hour, speeches were started and a fair sized number of onlookers had congregated. It, really, was going splendidly.

Was, being the key word, as someone who didn't seem to agree with the Amis thought it would be lovely to start a fistfight.

And what started as a fistfight dissolved into a full out brawl in the midst of the attendees. Enjolras, truly, did his best to get the fighters to stop while waiting on police, but a particularly nasty spectator thought it an excellent idea to attempt braining the blond with a large rock.

Had there been more time, maybe Grantaire would have been able to do something more sensible, like barrelling into the guy or catching the rock and diverting it away from Enjolras' head. As it was, the guy had come from behind them both, so by the time Grantaire spotted him the only course of action he could think of taking was leaping on top of Enjolras, pushing him down to the ground and getting in between the rock and Enjolras' head. The rock caught the back of his head, though most of the impact went to his shoulder.

The noise Enjolras made was somewhere between surprised, angry, and 'oof'.

"Grantaire, are you alright?" The blond asked, a bit short of breath, sitting up as best he could with Grantaire pinning him. At least the police had subdued the fighting, although how a man with a rock had gotten close enough to the duo was beyond Enjolras. He almost wondered why the rest of the group hadn't stepped in to help, but suspected that a majority of them had gotten caught up in brawls themselves.

"Nngh." Grantaire replied, rolling off Enjolras and carefully probing the back of his head and shoulder to determine the damage. His fingers came away bloody, and he groaned. "Been better." He muttered. "Are you alright? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Enjolras shook his head. "I'm fine- you're the one that got hit with a rock." Leave it to Grantaire to be more concerned with Enjolras than himself.

"Yeah I noticed that bit." Grantaire grit out, trying to sound sarcastic but only really sounding pained.

"You should probably have Joly or Combeferre look at that. It's bleeding pretty badly." Enjolras said after a moment, sitting next to Grantaire to gingerly look at the injury himself.

Grantaire sucked in a breath as Enjolras' hands grazed over a tender spot. "We should maybe get out of the middle of the street. Where are we meeting?"

For every rally, the group arranged somewhere nearby to regroup, something particularly useful should the protest get split up, or if a fight broke out and everyone got separated. Usually, Joly would be the first to the meet-up place, so that he wasn't fighting and would be there to help anyone who was injured.

 "The restaurant a block over. Can you walk it?" Enjolras asked, getting to his feet and swiping dirt from his pants and jacket. A moment of contemplation, and then he offered Grantaire a hand up. "Joly is probably already there with the med kits." And probably also Bossuet, knowing the pair.

"I should. It was my shoulder that got hit, not my leg." Grantaire grinned, taking Enjolras' offered hand and letting him pull him upwards. He shook out the ache in his knees and good arm where he'd made an attempt at bracing himself before he could fall on top of Enjolras -before the impact of the rock had ruined it - and motioned for Enjolras to lead the way.

Enjolras snorted. "Blood loss. I can't tell how bad he hit you." Injuries around the Amis were common enough that they'd all learned a while ago that losing blood could easily result in toting a comatose friend to the hospital. Gingerly, Enjolras placed an arm around Grantaire's back close to the bottom of the man's rib cage. The walk shouldn't take too long.

"I don't think I'll bleed out. Or I hope I don't." Grantaire muttered, hesitantly slipping his arm around Enjolras' shoulder. After that, he stayed pretty quiet, and if after a little while he did end up just a little dizzy with his head starting to loll onto Enjolras' shoulder, he definitely wasn't going to speak up about it.

"As incentive not to, remember how Bahorel was the last time someone got hurt bad enough for hospitalization." Enjolras pointed out before going silent. Grantaire huffed in amusement at the remembrance. They got to the restaurant fairly quickly, and sure enough, Joly and Bossuet were already present, large table commandeered in the back. Grantaire lifted his head as they entered the restaurant, and called over to Joly and Bossuet. "The first injured man has arrived."

Joly got up, meeting them halfway to the table. He stood at Grantaire's shoulder and helped lower him into a chair, looking closely at Grantaire's shoulder. "You are going to have a brilliant bruise, and you might need stitches for this gash here." Joly murmured, wiping the blood from the wound and pressing a clean cloth to it to slow the bleeding. Grantaire muttered complaints under his breath, but didn't try and swat him away. "How did you manage this?"

Enjolras rolled his eyes. "Grantaire decided to play human shield."

Bossuet raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

Enjolras sighed. "A particularly angry brawler tried to hit me with a rock. Grantaire pushed me out of the way."

Bossuet nodded. "Do you need the other med kit, Joly? Or can you manage with that one?"

"Well, I wasn't gonna let him brain you, was I?" Grantaire muttered.

Joly hummed vaguely and checked through his medkit. "I'm gonna need the bigger one, Bossuet."

"So diving for him is the best route of action, of course." Enjolras responded in something between irritation and... possibly concern.

"I'll go get it then." Bossuet said, fishing his keys from his pocket and slipping from the restaurant to get the bigger kit.

"There wasn't really time to do much else!" Grantaire defended. "If I'd waited, you'd have been hit round the head with a bloody big rock, and that would have probably ended a lot worse than needing a couple of stitches."

Joly kept himself immersed in his medkit, staying out of the way of the two.

"You could've gotten yourself killed if you'd been hit a little higher!" Enjolras snapped in response, balling his hands into fists. "You have no self preservation to speak of!" And perhaps it was just worry making Enjolras yell, but perhaps if Grantaire used his head!

"Well maybe I don't, what does it matter?" Grantaire growled. "I kept you out of danger, that's what matters to me."

"Grantaire..." Joly murmured.

"By putting yourself at risk!" Enjolras shot right back, crossing his arms and glaring. "I consider you an equal, Grantaire, but you certainly don't act like it!"

Bossuet returned, large medkit in hand, and looked worriedly between his fighting friends, giving Joly a curious look. Joly shook his head, leaving Grantaire's shoulder to go and collect the medkit from Bossuet, rummaging around inside it.

"Because I'm not really, am I?" Grantaire did his best to glare back, but after a few moments he dropped his eyes to his lap and slumped slightly. "Just leave it be, Apollo."

Enjolras grit his teeth, nasty comment on the tip of his tongue. "Fine. This discussion isn't over, though." The blond finally crossed his arms and slumped into a chair, irritation evident as he glared at the table. Grantaire nodded slightly. Joly hesitantly returned, surgical needle and thread in hand.

"It'd probably be best for you to take your shirt off for this-" He started, but Grantaire cut him off abruptly.

"No." He shook his head adamantly, and winced. "No, can you... not?"

Joly sighed but conceded. He glanced for a moment at Enjolras, before calling Bossuet over to hold the collar of Grantaire's t-shirt away from the wound on his shoulder.

"Does it hurt?" Bossuet asked, coming to stand at Joly's side and gingerly moving Grantaire's shirt collar out of the way.

"Not so much." Grantaire muttered, then gasped a little as Joly started on the stitches. "Okay, yeah."

"Sorry." Joly mumbled, concentrating more on making sure he was doing the stitches right. Still, he tried to be careful of the bruising.

Enjolras rolled his eyes, plucking his cell phone from his pocket and rapidly texting for a moment. "Some of the others should be here in a moment." A frown. "Bahorel got arrested again."

“Who’s surprised?” Grantaire chuckled.

Joly had finished and checked over the stitches before any of the others showed up. Jehan entered sporting a bloody nose and a split lip, and tugging Courfeyrac behind him, who was complaining about the black eye he was going to have.

"What did my beautiful face ever do to deserve this?" he whined, before catching sight of the others and grinning over at them. "Hello, you lot. Any war wounds?"

"Grantaire, mostly." Enjolras responded dryly, rolling his eyes.

Combeferre raised an eyebrow as he came in. "Are you two fighting again?" As if there ever wasn't a time Grantaire and Enjolras were fighting. Or so it seemed to the majority of the Amis, anyway.

"He's pissed at me cause I got in the way of a guy trying to smash his head in with a rock." Grantaire spoke up. Joly sighed and looked at the three newcomers, packing away the supplies for the sutchers and pulling out an icepack and some antiseptic wipes. Courfeyrac gratefully took the icepack and pressed it to his temple, continuing with his whining. Jehan rolled his eyes fondly as he mopped the blood from his own face.

"Do you really need to be fighting over it?" Jehan asked, looking between the two.

"Not if he'd have some sense of self-preservation!" Enjolras growled, expression daring his friends to argue.

"There's also selflessness, Enjolras. If someone had hit you in the head with a rock, you'd probably be much worse off than some shoulder stitches." Combeferre pointed out, earning a huff from Enjolras.

"Yeah, if the rock did that to his shoulder, I'd hate to think what it'd make of your head. You're lucky R is a bit stupid sometimes." Courfeyrac agreed.

"Love you too Courf." Grantaire muttered, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Neither of you are helping." Enjolras huffed, shoulders slumping and arms going lax.

"Enjolras, you need to relax just a bit. We're all alright, and Feuilly is fetching Bahorel from jail." Combeferre said in placating tones.

"I suppose it could have been worse." Enjolras conceded.

"But it isn't, and that's good." Courfeyrac said. "So we're all done fighting?" He didn't even bother waiting for an answer , simply continuing as he flopped down into a chair. "Good, cause I've had enough fighting for today."

"Wuss." Grantaire teased. Courfeyrac glared at him from behind his ice-pack.

"So fistfight aside, I think it went rather well." Bossuet said after a moment's silence.

Enjolras snorted. "Now if only the speeches had lasted longer than the fighting."

"Do they ever?" Combeferre asked, earning a shake of the head from Enjolras.

"There were still a lot of people there. A lot of people listening, a lot of people cheering. I'd say we got through to a fairly decent amount of them." Jehan pointed out.

"Apart from, you know, the ones that started punching us." Grantaire said dryly.

Enjolras sighed. "Frankly, I think we did all right. Are we all going home the same way we came?" He glanced around at his friends.

Combeferre shrugged. "I suppose." He glanced around. "I know I'm not letting Courfeyrac drive with a forming black eye."

"As if I'm letting go of this ice-pack." Courfeyrac scoffed.

"You said Feuilly was bailing out Bahorel, right?" Joly asked. "So they're accounted for. We might as well go back as we came -oh. You came with Bahorel, didn't you Grantaire?"

"I'll be fine." Grantaire said with a one-armed shrug.

Enjolras rolled his eyes. "Obviously Combeferre is going back with Courfeyrac and Jehan. I'll give you a ride." It wasn't as if they were going to opposite sides of the city. They lived in the same hall, carpooling wasn't a problem.

Grantaire looked for a moment like he was about to protest or argue in some way, but then he seemed to think better of it and shut his mouth, giving a small nod.

"Awesome, that's all sorted." Courfeyrac exclaimed, standing up from his seat. "Shall we get going?"

"I think so. Everyone's been accounted for; we might as well get back." Enjolras stood.

"Things to work on?" Bossuet asked as he picked up Joly's med kits.

Enjolras nodded. "Combeferre, I'll email you the notes on the speeches later?" A nod from his friend, and the group all seemed settled.

Grantaire followed Enjolras out to his car quietly. Part of him was expecting Enjolras to start up on the argument again now that they were away from their friends, and he couldn't really say he was looking forward to it.

Enjolras slid into the driver's side, taking a long, slow breath before starting the vehicle. "...Thank you." He muttered after a moment, throwing the car in reverse and pulling out to start the drive back to the university.

Grantaire opened his mouth once or twice before he managed to say "What?", looking over at Enjolras in confusion.

"I said thank you." Enjolras repeats, a bit louder, gaze fixed firmly on the road.

"A-alright." Grantaire muttered, nodding and looking out at the passing streets. "It's nothing, you know that."

"Yes, well, I still owed you a thank you, so..." Now that was a bit odd. Rarely was it that Enjolras was short of words, but he found none forthcoming. Grantaire nodded, not quite trusting himself to speak without saying something really stupid that would provoke another argument or just generally piss Enjolras off more.

"You did worry me." Enjolras said into the silence after a moment. "I rather prefer you breathing." Even if Grantaire didn't so much breathe as run his mouth until the both of them are hoarse.

Grantaire fought back the self-depreciating replies that sprung to the tip of his tongue, instead replying after a moment, "I'm sorry. I didn't really think about it like that."

Really, he hadn't thought much about it at all. He hadn't really considered, at the time, that it was fully possible that the man might smash _his_ head in instead - all he'd really thought was to save Enjolras.

He turned to grin a bit at Enjolras. "I'll keep breathing if you want me to, Apollo."

"I'd certainly like for you to, yes." Enjolras nodded, not entirely sure about what he was feeling. All he could really tell was that Grantaire had worried the hell out of him by pulling a stunt like that, and much as they fought, Enjolras did happen to like Grantaire alive to fight with.

Grantaire's little grin softened into a small smile. "Then I'll try my hardest." he murmured. They lapsed into another silence, and Grantaire turned to stared out of the window at the passing city.

They were perhaps fifteen minutes away- damned traffic causing holdups. Enjolras was silently debating and, yes this was probably the stupidest mental argument he'd had in a while.

"Grantaire, look this way, please." Enjolras said as he paused at a red light. Grantaire obeyed, tilting his head curiously at the serious tone of Enjolras’ voice. Turning to the other man, a mild frown on his face, Enjolras sighed. "I believe the best way to keep an eye out for you would be..." Enjolras shuffled, driving forward when the light turned green. "Go out with me."

Grantaire's jaw may have fallen off if it wasn't attached. As it was, his mouth dropped open, and he sputtered for a moment as his brain tried to process the words.

"A-are you serious, Enjolras?" He eventually managed. "Because this is a cruel joke if you're not and if it's because Courfeyrac has said something I am going to kill him-"

"In all the time you've known me, have I ever been the joking type?" Enjolras retorted, raising an eyebrow even though he wasn't looking directly at Grantaire. "If you don't want to, fine. Just say so."

"No! No, it's just-" Grantaire raked a hand back through his hair. His eyes were wide and he looked half-way to terrified. "Do you have any idea how long I've _wanted_ something like this to happen? You'll have to forgive me if I'm a little shocked."

Enjolras let out a small, surprised laugh. "You can argue politics with me for hours, but you wait for me to start this?" The blond shook his head in exasperation. Honestly.

"I kinda presumed you hated me for the longest time, and then after that I just kinda thought you were way outta my league and wouldn't be interested in me, the annoying drunk cynic who interrupts all your meetings, of all people." Grantaire shrugged, biting on his lower lip. "Never really thought I had a chance, so I didn't really see the point in trying."

Enjolras rolled his eyes. "And that's our problem. Do you really think I'd tolerate you and your comments if I didn't like your company?" Enjolras didn't have the greatest people skills sometimes, no. But he wasn't so thick-headed as to pretend to enjoy someone's company when he didn't.

"Probably not, no." Grantaire admits. "But just because you 'liked' my company didn't mean... you know. Anyway, it makes sense in my head, okay?" He cleared his throat slightly. Even now, he was wary of managing to say or do the wrong thing at the wrong time or in the wrong way and completely destroying  any and all chances he may have had. "So you... you really mean it?" He asked eventually, quietly.

Enjolras sighed and nodded lightly. "Yes, I mean it. I am not bluffing. I am not teasing. I'm not trying to crush you. I mean it."

Grantaire sighed as well, his lips twitching slightly into a smile. "Yes, then. Yes, I'd love to go out with you."

Enjolras relaxed almost imperceptibly, smiling gently. Grantaire’s smile slowly grew into a grin, and the rest of the ride to their dorms was blanketed in a happy and comfortable silence.


End file.
